Film packaging machine

ABSTRACT

A film packaging machine which comprises a set of upper and lower roll sheets of synthetic resin, and a bed having a recess and disposed behind the roll sheets. The lower roll sheet passes along the bed, such as to cover the recess provided in the bed. A marginal elastic ring is disposed around the recess, and the lower roll sheet is adapted to put an article to be packaged over the recess. Means for passing upwardly the upper roll sheet above said bed are provided, to pile it upon the lower roll sheet at the back of the body. A feed roller and a press roller passes the pile therebetween. A cutter and a hot plate includes a cylindrical cutter on the outside and a ring-shaped hot plate on the inside, which constitutes a single body. A hand lever and a working shaft, the latter being turned back and forth by means of the hand lever. The working shaft interlocks with the cutter. Means are provided for conveying the upper and lower roll sheets backwardly upon lifting the cutter and the hot plate. An intermediate shaft is operated upon turning the working shaft. An interlocking device is arranged for transmitting the turning of the intermediate shaft of the feed roller. Means are arranged for pressing down the upper roll sheet upon moving downwardly the cutter and the hot plate. The upper roll sheet passes obliquely by the cutter and the hot plate, to wind back the upper roll sheet. Both the roll sheets are kept at rest without transmitting the turning of the working shaft to the intermediate shaft and, accordingly, to the feed roller by the free wheel fitted to the intermediate shaft. The upper roll sheet is piled upon the lower roll sheet for covering the article to be packaged. The cylindrical cutter and the ring-shaped hot plate cutting and heat-sealing simultaneously both roll sheets on the elastic ring, and the article is released out of the machine through the recess.

United States Patent 1 Nakamura [54] FILM PACKAGING MACHINE [76] Inventor: Kei Nakamura, 183-99 Ohya Nishihirano Mikagesho, Higashinadaku, Kobe, Japan [22] Filed: Jan. 6, 1971 [21] Appl. No.: 104,205

[52] US. Cl. ..53/l82, 53/390 [51] Int. Cl. ..B65b 9/02, B65b 51/30 [58] Field of Search ..53/28, 30, 182, 390

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS Doucette et al ..53/l82 Busche ....53/390 UX 2,790,288 4/1957 Hensgen.... ..53/390 X 2,996,866 8/1961 Gilbert 53/390 X 3,067,653 12/1962 Lesser et a1 ..53/30 X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 57' AiiS'TiiKtfT A film packaging machine which comprisesa set of upper and lower roll sheets of synthetic resin, and a bed having a recess and disposed behind the roll sheets. The lower roll sheet passes along the bed, such 11] 3,732,666 1 May 15, 1973 as to cover the recess provided in the bed. A marginal elastic ring is disposed around the recess, and the lower roll sheet is adapted to put an article to be packaged over the recess. Means for passing upwardly the upper roll sheet above said bed are provided, to pile it upon the lower roll sheet at the back of the body. A feed roller and a press roller passes the pile therebetween. A cutter and a hot plate includes a cylindrical cutter on the outside and a ring-shaped hot plate on the inside, which constitutes a single body. A hand lever and a working shaft, the latter being turned back and forth by means of the hand lever. The working shaft interlocks with the cutter. Means are provided for conveying the upper and lower roll sheets backwardly upon lifting the cutter and the hot plate. An intermediate shaft is operated upon turning the working shaft. An interlocking device is arranged for transmitting the turning of the intermediate shaft of the feed roller. Means are arranged for pressing down the upper roll sheet upon moving downwardly the cutter and the hot plate. The upper roll sheet passes obliquely by the cutter and the hot plate, to wind back the upper roll sheet. Both the roll sheets are kept at rest without transmitting the turning of the working shaft to the intermediate shaft and, accordingly, to the feed roller by the free wheel fitted to the intermediate shaft. The upper roll sheet is piled upon the lower roll sheet for covering the article to be packaged. The cylindrical cutter and the ring-shaped hot plate cutting and heat-sealing simultaneously both roll sheets on the elastic ring, and the article is released out of the machine through the recess.

3 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures PATH-HEB HAY] 51975 SHEET 1 [IF 3 INVENTOR.

Pmmmn m 1 5 ms SHEET 2 0F 3 INVENTOR.

PATENTEU 1 5W3 SHEET 3 OF 3 F l G.

NVENTOR.

FILM PACKAGING MACHINE The present invention relates to a film packaging machine.

In recent years, it has been attempted actively to increase the storage stability of foods and to improve the food hygienes by sealing cakes and foods with a film made of soft synthetic resins such as vinyl, polyethylene, and others. However, the machines which have hitherto been provided for the process are divided in two extremes, either those of fairly large size and complicated structure, or very primitive manual machines. The film packaging machine of low price and high accuracy, which is easily available by smaller enterprises in accordance with the everyday output, has not yet been proposed.

It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide a film packaging machine of relatively simple structure, small size, light weight and high accuracy at a low manufacturing cost.

With this and other objects in view which will become apparent in the following detailed description, the present invention will be clearly understood in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevation of the film packaging machine, designed in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a vertical section of the machine disclosed in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a top view of the machine;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary section of the machine;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary section of the machine as shown in FIG. 4, disclosing a different operational position; and

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of FIG. 4 with the support arms not shown for clarity.

Referring now to the drawings, a film packaging machine, according to the present invention comprises basically a set of upper and lower roll sheets 2 and 2' made of soft synthetic resin in front of a bed 1. The bottom roll sheet 2 passes along the bed 1, so as to cover a recess 3 bored in the bed 1 and a marginal elastic ring 4 around the recess 3, at the same time, putting an article B (FIG. 5) to be packaged on the roll sheet 2 over the recess 3; while causing the upper roll sheet 2 to pass obliquely above the bed 1 to pile it upon the bottom roll sheet 2' at the back of the body; and then causing the pile to pass between a feed roller 5 and a press roller 6. On the other hand, a cutter and simultaneously a hot plate A, which is equipped with a cylindrical cutter 7 at the outside and with a ring-shaped hot plate 8 at the inside as an integral body, interlocks with a working shaft 10, which is turned back and forth by means of a hand lever 9 (FIG. 3). When the cutter and simultaneously the hot plate A are lifted up, both the upper and lower roll sheets 2 and 2' are conveyed backwardly, which roll sheets were held between the feed roller 5 and the press roller 6, by transmitting the turning of the working shaft 10 through an appropriate link motion 11 to an intermediate shaft 12 and by transmitting the turning of the intermediate shaft 12 through an appropriate interlocking device 13 to the feed roller 5. When the cutter and simultaneously the hot plate A go down, pressing down the upper roll sheet 2, which is passing by obliquely, the upper roll sheet 2 winds back as both the roller sheets 2 and 2' are kept at rest without transmitting the turning of the working shaft 10 to the intermediate shaft 12 and, consequently, to the feed roller 5 by a free wheel 24, which is fitted to the intermediate shaft 12. At the same time, the piling the roll sheet 2 upon the bottom roll sheet 2' occurs covering the article B to be packaged. Both the roll sheets 2 and 2 are cut and heat-sealed simultaneously on the elastic ring 4 by means of the cylindrical cutter 7 and the ring-shaped hot plate 8. The article B, on which the packaging is finished, is released out of the machine through the recess 3.

As above illustrated, the cutter and the simultaneously acting hot plate A, which is a combination of the cylindrical cutter 7 and the ring-shaped hot plate 8, can cut and heat-seal simultaneously a set of upper and lower roll sheets 2 and 21 of soft synthetic resin which holds the article B to be packaged therebetween and is piled up on each other on the bed 1 by only one operation of pulling down of the hand lever 9. Then the packaged article is released automatically out of the machine through the recess 3. By following, only one operation of pushing up of the hand lever 9, the cutter and simultaneously the hot plate A are lifted to the original position and the cut remainder of both the roll sheets 2 and 2' is conveyed automatically to the back of the body by the feed roller 5. Only with a really simple operation is the article B to be packaged put on the roll sheet 2' over the recess 3, the hand lever 9 pulled down and pushed up, cutting, sealing, and removing the packaged article, and removing the roll sheet 2; and 2' are all carried out automatically. Therefore, a continuous operation is easily obtained and the efficiency of package highly improved.

Furthermore, an oblique running of one of the upper roll sheet 2 and the lower roll sheet 2' causes the insertion of the article B to be packaged over the recess 3 to be easily accomplished and the winding back of the upper roll sheet 2 to be smooth, and then the piling of the roll sheets 2 and 2 to be certain. A fitting of the elastic ring 4 in the margin around the recess 3 provides the advantage, that the cutting is carried out by the cylindrical cutter 7 easily and surely. In the drawings, a cylindrical frame 14, which covers the cutter and concurrently the hot plate A and a press ring 15 under the cylindrical frame play a role to prevent the obliquely running roll sheet 2 from contacting with the cylindrical cutter 7 and the ring-shaped hot plate 8 in the intermediate position, and consequently prevent the cutting or welding of the roll sheet 2 prematurely.

Next, a film packaging machine according to the present invention is secondly characterized by the working mechanism of the aforementioned cutter and concurrently the hot plate A. Namely, when the cutter and concurrently the hot plate A is driven up and down perpendicularly to the bed 1, the edge of the cutter 7 and the hot plate A are possible to contact the roll sheet 2 and to tear or melt it before their arrival to the elastic ring 4, even by furnishing with the aforementioned cylindrical frame 14 and the pressing ring 15, because the upper roll sheet 2 runs obliquely over the bed 1. Most of this, however, can be removed by the use of a working device for the cutter and hot plate which comprises fixing an arm 16 to the working shaft 10 interlocking with the hand lever 9. Support arms 17 support the cylindrical frame 14 and the press ring 15 at both sides of the arm 16. A stop plate 18 is furnished laterally between the support arms 17, so as to stop the upward movement of the cylindrical frame 14 and the press ring 15 by engaging the stop plate 18 with the upper surface of the arm 16; pulling up the cutter and concurrently hot plate A above the cylindrical frame 14 by making the shaft 19 of the cutter and concurrently the hot plate A pass through the upper surface of the cylindrical frame 14 and by furnishing a spring 21 between a shaft end flange 20 and the cylindrical frame 14. In addition, the shaft end comes in engagement with the end of the arm 16. When the working shaft is turned forward by operating the hand lever 9, the support arm 17 turns forward by the arm 16, so as to press down obliquely the upper roll sheet 2 running obliquely, to arrange it horizontally, in turn, by means of the press ring at the lower end of the support arms 17. Consequently the upper roll sheet 2 is piled upon the bottom roll sheet 2' on the bed 1; and then causing the cutting and heat-sealing of both the roll sheets 2 and 2' by means of the cutter and hot plate simultaneously which goes down by pushing the hand lever 9 downwardly against the spring 21.

In the working device of the cutter and simultaneously the hot plate A according to the present invention, since the press ring 15 causes a circular motion with the working shaft 10 through the support arm 17 to obtain contact with the upper roll sheet 2, the press ring 15 first contacts obliquely with the roll sheet 2,

' then presses it as the inclination of the press ring 15 is decreased gradually, and at last makes the roll sheets 2 and 2' pile on each other by lying perfectly in the horizontal direction. Therefore, there is a benefit, that the press down of the upper roll sheet 2 is carried out smoothly and its wind back also can be carried out naturally. Furthermore, in the above-mentioned process for pushing down the upper roll sheet 2, since the cutter and the hot plate A is slided by the spring 21 and disappears at the upper end of the cylindrical frame 14, the cylindrical cutter 7 and the ring-shaped heat plate 8 have no possibility to contact directly with the roll sheet 2 and consequently never cut or weld it.

To let the cutter and the hot plate A simultaneously work, it is sufficient to push down the hand lever 9 by using a little more power than that in the press process, and when the power is decreased the cutter and simultaneously the hot plate A are automatically lifted by the elasticity of the spring 21. The press process, on the one hand, and the cutting and heat-sealing process, on the other hand thus are clearly divided, which contributes greatly to improve the accuracy of the work.

Next, though it contributes greatly to the improvement of efficiency to carry out at the same time the cutting work and the heat-sealing work by the cutter and simultaneously by the hot plate A according to the present invention, the adjacency of the cutter 7 to the hot plate 8 has a tendency to cause various defects.

Namely, the heat of the ring-shaped hot plate 8 is conducted to the cylindrical cutter 7 to cause melting of the roll sheets 2 and 2' upon the edge of the cylindrical cutter 7, to decrease its cutting efficiency. And when the article B to be packaged is put on between the roll sheets 2 and 2' at the cutting and heat-sealing work, the sheet 2 is expanded occasionally to cause contact of the surface of the packaged article contact with the inside circumference of the ring-shaped hot plate 8.

The third characteristic of the present invention is taken into particular consideration, in order to improve the aforementioned defects. Namely, it relates to a cutter and a hot plate, which comprises an asbestos plate 22 in a gap between the cylindrical cutter 7 and the ring-shaped hot plate 8 and, in addition, sticking a ring shaped heat insulator 23 made of synthetic resin in the inside circumference of the ring-shaped hot plate 8.

The use of the above cutter and hot plate prevents conduction of the heat at the ring-shaped hot plate to the cylindrical cutter 7 by the existence of the asbestos plate 22, and therefore, prevents during cutting by the cylindrical cutter 7, the roll sheets 2 and 2' from being melted upon the edge of the cylindrical cutter to decrease its sharpness or damage by the melting. The covering with the ring-shaped heat insulator 23 in the inside circumference of the ring-shaped hot plate 8 prevents the expanded roll sheet 2 from contacting directly the ring-shaped hot plate 8 at high temperatures, when the article B to be packaged is put between the roll sheets, and it thus removes imperfect heat-sealing of the article due to the damage of melting.

As illustrated above, in spite of the fact that the film packaging machine for foods according to the present invention is of very simple structure, packaging and heat-sealing of the article with the upper and lower roll sheets 2 and 2, cutting, removing of the packaged article, and feeding of the roll sheets 2 and 2' are all carried out perfectly and automatically, with merely a back and forth movement of the hand lever 9 and insertion of the article B to be packaged carried out by hand. Therefore, the process is of much higher efficiency, than that in the conventional manual machine. Both the press down process in rotation of the cutter and concurrently the hot plate A and the two-stage work, which is divided in the pressing process, and the cutting and heat-sealing process, not only make piling of the roll sheets smooth and accurate, but also diminish the loss of the roll sheets due to tearing and melting in the pressing process. Furthermore, the structure of the cutter and hot plate, in which the asbestos plate 22 is furnished between the cylindrical cutter 7 and the ring-shaped hot plate 8, and the ring-shaped heat insulator 23 is inserted in the inside circumference of the hote plate 8, renders the cutting process sure, and removes imperfect sealing of the packaged article by the damage of melting. These functions supplement one another, and provide a film packaging machine of simple structure and of high accuracy, which has not been obtained before, at a very low cost. It, therefore, is very meritorious to the related industries.

While I have disclosed one embodiment of the present invention, it is to be understood that this embodiment is given by example only and not in a limiting sense.

I claim:

1. A film packaging machine comprising means to support a set of upper and lower roll sheets of synthetic resin,

a bed having a recess and disposed beneath said roll sheets,

said lower roll sheet passing along said bed, such as to cover said recess provided in said bed,

a marginal elastic ring disposed around said recess, and said lower roll sheet being adapted to hold an article to be packaged over said recess,

means for passing upwardly said upper roll sheet above said bed, to pile it upon the lower roll sheet at a back of said bed,

a lower feed roller and an upper press roller for passing said pile therebetween at a rear portion of said machine,

a cutter and a hot plate comprising a cylindrical cutter having a lower cutting edge on the outside and a separate ring-shaped hot plate on the inside coaxially spaced from each other constituting an integral body,

a hand lever, and a working shaft adapted to be turned back and forth by means of said hand lever,

said working shaft operatively interlocking with said cutter and hot plate for lifting and lowering, respectively, said cutter and said hot plate,

means operatively connected to said working shaft for conveying said upper and lower roll sheets backwardly upon lifting said cutter and said hot plate, and comprising an intermediate shaft adapted to be operated upon turning said working shaft, and an interlocking means for transmitting the turning of said intermediate shaft to said feed roller,

a cylindrical frame means coaxially disposed around said cylindrical cutter and mounted axially movable relative thereto to a position lower than said lower cutter edge of said cutter for pressing down said upper roll sheet upon moving downwardly of said cutter and said hot plate,

said upper roll-sheet being oriented to pass obliquely by said cutter and said hot plate, to wind back said upper roll sheet,

a ratchet wheel means fitted in said intermediate shaft such that both said roll sheets being kept substantially at rest without transmitting in one direction the turning of said working shaft to said intermediate shaft when said cutter and hot plate are lowered, said upper roll sheet being piled upon the lower roll sheet for covering said articles to be packaged, and

said cylindrical cutter and said ring-shaped hot plate cutting and heat-sealing simultaneously in one operation of pulling down said hand lever both said roll sheets on said elastic ring, and thereby packaging said article, and whereby said article being re- 1, which includes an arm fixed to said working shaft interlocking with said hand lever,

support arms supporting said cylindrical frame and said pressing means constituting a support arm at each side of said arm,

a stop plate disposed between said support arms in order to limit the upward movement of said cylindrical frame and said press ring by engaging said stop plate with the upper surface of said arm,

means for pulling up said cutter and said hot plate above a lower end of said cylindrical frame comprising a shaft of said cutter and said hot plate passing through an upper surface of said cylindrical frame,

said shaft of said cutter and said hot plate formed with an upper shaft end flange,

a spring disposed between said shaft end flange and said cylindrical frame and causing engagement of said shaft end flange with an end of said arm,

said support arms being turned down by said arm upon turning said working shaft in one direction, so as to press down obliquely the upper roll sheet into a horizontal position with said press ring pressing down said upper roll sheet so that said upper roll sheet is piled upon the lower roll sheet on said bed, whereby said roll sheets are cut and heat-sealed by means of said cutter and said hot plate when adjacent said bed upon pushing said hand lever downwardly and consequently said arm against said spring.

3. The film packaging machine, as set forth in claim 1, wherein tially aligned with the lower edge of said hot plate. 

1. A film packaging machine comprising means to support a set of upper and lower roll sheets of synthetic resin, a bed having a recess and disposed beneath said roll sheets, said lower roll sheet passing along said bed, such as to cover said recess provided in said bed, a marginal elastic ring disposed around said recess, and said lower roll sheet being adapted to hold an article to be packaged over said recess, means for passing upwardly said upper roll sheet above said bed, to pile it upon the lower roll sheet at a back of said bed, a lower feed roller and an upper press roller for passing said pile therebetween at a rear portion of said machine, a cutter and a hot plate comprising a cylindrical cutter having a lower cutting edge on the outside and a separate ring-shaped hot plate on the inside coaxially spaced from each other constituting an integral body, a hand lever, and a working shaft adapted to be turned back and forth by means of said hand lever, said working shaft operatively interlocking with said cutter and hot plate for lifting and lowering, respectively, said cutter and said hot plate, means operatively connected to said working shaft for conveying said upper and lower roll sheets backwardly upon lifting said cutter and said hot plate, and comprising an intermediate shaft adapted to be operated upon turning said working shaft, and an interlocking means for transmitting the turning of said intermediate shaft to said feed roller, a cylindrical frame means coaxially disposed around said cylindrical cutter and mounted axially movable relative thereto to a position lower than said lower cutter edge of said cutter for pressing down said upper roll sheet upon moving downwardly of said cutter and said hot plate, said upper roll sheet being oriented to pass obliquely by said cutter and said hot plate, to wind back said upper roll sheet, a ratchet wheel means fitted in said intermediate shaft such that both said roll sheets being kept substantially at rest without transmitting in one direction the turning of said working shaft to said intermediate shaft when said cutter and hot plate are lowered, said upper roll sheet being piled upon the lower roll sheet for covering said articles to be packaged, and said cylindrical cutter and said ring-shaped hot plate cutting and heat-sealing simultaneously in one operation of pulling down said hand lever both said roll sheets on said elastic ring, and thereby packaging said article, and whereby said article being released automatically out of the machine by falling through said recess,
 2. The film packaging machine, as set forth in claim 1, which includes an arm fixed to said working shaft interlocking with said hand lever, support arms supporting said cylindrical frame and said pressing means constituting a support arm at each side of said arm, a stop plate disposed between said support arms in order to limit the upward movement of said cylindrical frame and said press ring by engaging said stop plate with the upper surface of said arm, means for pulling up said cutter and said hot plate above a lower end of said cylindrical frame comprising a shaft of said cutter and said hot plate passing through an upper surface of said cylindrical frame, said shaft of said cutter and said hot plate formed with an upper shaft end flange, a spring disposed between said shaft end flange and said cylindrical frame and causing engagement of said shaft end flange with an end of said arm, said support arms being turned down by said arm upon turning said working shaft in one direction, so as to press down obliquely the upper roll sheet into a horizontal position with said press ring pressing down said upper roll sheet so that said upper roll sheet is piled upon the lower roll sheet on said bed, whereby said roll sheets are cut and heat-sealed by means of said cutter and said hot plate when adjacent said bed upon pushing said hand lever downwardly and consequently said arm against said spring.
 3. The film packaging machine, as set forth in claim 1, whereiN a cylindrical asbestos plate provided in a gap between said cylindrical cutter and said hot plate, and a ring-shaped heat insulator of synthetic resin being provided on the inside circumference of said ring-shaped hot plate and having a lower edge substantially aligned with the lower edge of said hot plate. 